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FOCAIL BAILE CROÍ Wraps Filming in Kerry

Home is many things. Words are everything.

Filming has wrapped on Focail Baile Croí (Words Home Heart) in which Amy-Joyce plays the female lead role of Máthair (Mother).

This beautiful Irish language short was the winner of the Comórtas Físín funding award, funded by Screen Kerry and winner of multiple festival screenplay awards including the Catalyst Film Festival/Writers Guild of Ireland Best Short Screenplay.

The story – which spans thirty years within the walls of one household – revolves around a father imagining moments he will share with his son, teaching him words for his experiences in a home full of language and heart. 


Focail Baile Croí is at once a cinematic love letter to the Irish language and a reimagining of grief as a privilege of love.

Filming took place over one week in County Kerry. The film is written and directed by Screen International Rising Star Katie McNeice, produced by Maggie Ryan of Escape Pod Media, with Evan Barry onboard as cinematographer. It stars Lochlann O’Mearáin, Fiach Kunz and Amy-Joyce Hastings. On set photography by Tim Bingham.

Press Round Up

Amy-Joyce has some recent interviews printed in the Sunday Independent and in Woman’s Way.

She and actor Seán T. O’Meallaigh launched the rebrand of the Galway Film Centre as Ardán.

You can view all of Amy-Joyce’s recent press here.

International Screenings for WHO WE LOVE

Who We Love had its North American premiere at the prestigious LGBTQ+ Outshine Film Festival in Miami where it was awarded the Best Feature Audience Award runner up in May.

This was followed up with a New York screening where the film was a New York Times Weekend Arts Pick. Amy-Joyce and director Graham Cantwell attended the screening and a Q&A at the New York Irish Centre on Sat June 11th, along with US cinematographers The Ray Sisters, with thanks to CraicFest and Culture Ireland.

At home in Ireland the film screened at the Catalyst International Film Festival. The Irish Film & Television Academy hosted a special Academy Screening and Q&A with director/co-writer Graham Cantwell, co-writer Katie McNeice, and actors Clara Harte, Dean Quinn and Amy-Joyce Hastings at the Lighthouse Cinema Dublin on 4th July 2022.

Who We Love was screened as part of a five-city Australian tour at Palace Cinemas in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Canberra from 25 August – 25 September presented by Irish Film Festival Australia, where Cantwell, Harte and Hastings took place in a remote Q&A for the Australian premiere in Sydney.

Recently Who We Love screened at the blue riband LGBT event – the Iris Prize Festival in Wales on October 15 with Cantwell, McNeice, Harte and Hastings attending as guests of the festival.

Irish Film & Television Academy Awards 2022

The 2022 IFTA Irish Film & Drama Awards aired on on Virgin Media Television on Saturday 12th March with the Award for the Best Supporting Actress – Film category presented by Colin Farrell. Amy-Joyce Hastings was nominated in the category for Who We Love alongside Caitriona Balfe for Belfast, Carrie Crowley for An Cailín Ciúin, Jessie Buckley for The Lost Daughter, and Ruth Negga for Passing.

“It is my great privilege to be able to announce the nominees and the winner of the best supporting actress this year… an incredible year of work … globally lauded performances that are raw and empathetic and just show true mastery of their craft.” – Colin Farrell, IFTA Awards Ceremony 2022

The Awards Ceremony was a hybrid in studio / virtual event, with Who We Love receiving a total of six nominations including Best Film. The Dean Hotel hosted the nominations party for Who We Love in April with a follow up evening presentation hosted by the Academy taking place at Dublin’s Westbury Hotel on May 13th 2022.

IFTA Nominated Best Supporting Actress 2022

Amy-Joyce Hastings has received an Irish Film & Television Academy Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actress – Film for her performance as Oonagh in Who We Love. Fellow nominees include Caitriona Balfe for Belfast, Carrie Crowley for An Cailín Ciúin, Jessie Buckley for The Lost Daughter, and Ruth Negga for Passing.

Who We Love received a total of six nominations for the 2022 IFTA Awards including Best Film for producers Graham Cantwell and Edwina Forkin, Best Director for Graham Cantwell, Best Script for co-writers Cantwell and Katie McNiece, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor for Dean Quinn, and Best Score for composer Joe Conlan.

The awards ceremony will be broadcast on Virgin Media Television on Saturday 12th March with the Award for the Best Supporting Actress category presented by Colin Farrell.

Literary Award for Hastings’ Screenplay ‘Perspective’

Amy-Joyce Hastings’ short film screenplay PERSPECTIVE won third prize in the screenplay category of the 2021 Hammond House Publishing International Literary Prize, awarded by the University Centre Grimsby.

The annual writing competition, now in its sixth year, attracted a record number of entries from 27 different countries. This year’s theme was Stardust. In the screenplay competition, the judges were looking for well-written scripts with compelling stories and developed characters that explore and showcase imagination and creativity.

Perspective is a short film book-ended with two Halloween nights, one year apart. A young girl, Hazel, loses her eye in a firework attack. Instead of giving in to despair, her natural optimism and resilience allows her to reimagine herself, in the process inspiring the adults around her.

There will be a televised awards ceremony for winners and shortlisted entries in all three categories at the University Centre Grimsby on February 9th.

WHO WE LOVE wins at Kerry International Film Festival

Who We Love has won the Best Narrative Feature Award at the 2021 Kerry International Film Festival, and co-writer Katie McNiece was awarded the ‘Taking Flight’ Rising Talent Award for her contribution to the film.

The LGBTQ+ drama had a sold out in-person screening at the Cinema Killarney on Saturday night leaving the audience emotional.

Directed by Graham Cantwell the film stars Clara Harte, Dean Quinn, Amy-Joyce Hastings, Venetia Bowe, Danielle Galligan, Lynette Callaghan, Paul Ronan, Aisling O’Neill and Alison McGirr.

Cinematography was by American duo the Ray Sisters, and the film was produced by Cantwell, Alan Fitzpatrick and Edwina Forkin.